Gallegos scores final victory for Democrats

Ali Templer, left, daughter of Sen. Mario Gallegos, Connie Sanchez and Theresa Gallegos, the late senator's widow, embrace after the election results came in Tuesday at the Democrat's watch party.

Mario Gallegos, one of the Texas Senate's most reliable liberals until his death last month, scored a final win Tuesday, easily defeating his Republican challenger after his name remained on the ballot.

Beleaguered Texas Democrats also withstood a spirited, well-funded challenge to Sen. Wendy Davis in the Fort Worth area. Nevertheless, Republicans will retain control of the Senate with a 19-12 advantage when it convenes in January.

The GOP targeted the Davis seat in an attempt to pull within a single vote of an unbreakable two-thirds majority. The Senate operates under a rule that requires the agreement of at least 21 senators for any bill to be brought up for debate during a regular session.

Davis, who moved into the spotlight last year by blocking a budget bill over education cuts, defeated state Rep. Mark Shelton, whom party leaders consider a "rock-solid" conservative.

"What they said with their votes tonight was that they wanted someone to return who they believed was representing their true interests, someone that they trust," Davis told the Texas Tribune after her victory speech.

Win not unprecedented

Friends and family of Gallegos made similar comments about his win.

"He was always there for the community," said Juan Hernandez, a retired firefighter who had known Gallegos for decades. He said his friend and confidant was not perfect but he did all he could for his constituents.

Gallegos, the first Hispanic elected to the state Senate from Harris County, died last month from complications of liver disease. Under Texas law, his name remained on the ballot because he died less than 74 days before the election.

Voters rallied around his candidacy, handing the longtime lawmaker a victory over Republican R.W. Bray in the heavily Democratic District 6, which covers east Harris County. The win by a dead incumbent was not unprecedented - in 2006, state Rep. Glenda Dawson, R-Pearland, was re-elected two months after dying from a brief illness.

Cynthia Gallegos, his youngest sister, said she had worked at polls all day and repeatedly answered the big question from people: Why vote for the late senator?

"Every person who came up to me was like, 'Didn't he die?' " she said. "I would bite my lip and explain the process. We want to keep the district Democratic."

With the posthumous win by Gallegos, Gov. Rick Perry will declare the seat vacant and call for a special election to be held within 45 days, on a Tuesday or Saturday.

Possible Democratic candidates include state Rep. Carol Alvarado and former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia. At a victory party for Gallegos on Tuesday, Alvarado said she would wait a few days to discuss her plans.

"Tonight is about Mario, to savor his victory," she said of the former firefighter who served 22 years in the state Legislature.

Family savors victory

Scores of friends and four generations of the Gallegos family gathered at the southeast Houston home of one of his sisters for a victory celebration and political wake.

The returns prompted measured cheers throughout the night, leading to his brother-in-law, Johnny Villarreal, taking a puff of a hand-rolled cigar from the winner's private reserve - a nod to an Election Day tradition of Gallegos.